Traction Dog Training Club

Mara was absolutely fabulous, I highly recommend. We have a 3-year old pup who was pretty well behaved until we brought in a puppy. The presence of the puppy fully reverted our adult dog to old behavior, both fed off each others bad behavior and we lost all control. Our biggest issue was with guests and barking. They started jumping on guests, wouldn’t leave them alone and barked incessantly. After speaking with Mara on the phone she was confident both were easily correctable with a 5-session booking and we may not even need all 5 sessions for it. I was skeptical but also desperate with the holidays coming up and many guests to come. Mara made herself immediately available and we went to work. Within 3 sessions, both dogs were sitting and staying back when guests came in. We tested it with some who bring out their worst and we had complete success. They are also 1000x better with the “quiet” command. They did so well with her that we moved on to some leash training which the puppy now has down beautifully. She walks at my side and sits whenever I stop. Highly recommend. We will call Mara with all future needs.

It was impossible to go on walks in Austin with my dog because she was extremely reactive. We ended up walking at odd hours of the day, especially during lunch time when other people weren't out. With the heat, it wasn't possible to walk during the day anymore. Mara helped get my dog into a place where we're comfortable walking regardless of what other dogs are doing around us! We did the 3 week in house training and I'd highly recommend it to others!

We adopted our dog, Flash, eight years ago from Austin Animal Center and were committed to being the best dog parents to our then little puppy. Sleeping in the bed with us, leaving food bowls out whenever he wanted to eat, allowing him on couches and teaching him basic commands and we thought we had aced it. Fast forward years later and he started showing some tendencies that we were not prepared for. We started changing some things (thinking it would resolve issues) but after feeling like we were on a hamster wheel we knew we needed help. Internet research led us to Mara with Traction Dog Training, and we are forever thankful. We started off with Mara doing in home training and after two amazing sessions we experienced another "situation" with Flash. We immediately reached out to Mara, and she jumped into action- she wanted to now do study abroad with Flash. With the in-home training program and the study aboard program she communicated all instructions perfectly and let us know her, his, and our goals, which we agreed with. Flash did a 10-day study abroad at Mara's house and WOW is all we can say. She identified the issues, gave us her opinion of what was happening and put together a solid plan to help us navigate (she was spot on with everything too). In those 10 days she was able to see the "situations" we encountered and provided us the tools we needed to continue to move forward with Flash. She kept in communication with us during his study abroad and sent us videos, emails and provided us the tools and skills we would continue with. We constantly reference the training videos she recorded with Flash and reference her emails to make sure we are using the same practices she did. We’ve never felt like we were lost on what to do because she outlined everything so well. We are forever thankful for Mara and Traction Dog Training. Flash has been home for about two weeks, and we are all understanding our new lifestyle. Our new command words "Right, Wrong, Nope, Off, Wait, Free" are our new way of life! Flash now sleeps in a crate- might I say perfectly too! He does very well with climb cot time, and we can take him for walks without the constant pulling and lunging at other dogs! Flashes resource guarding and genetically fearful personality is a fact for us, but with the help of Mara she has taught us what our new way of life can look like. Our goals were in line with Mara's, and she has helped provide us all the resources we need. We are forever thankful for Mara and Traction Dog training. We didn't want to give up hope on our 8-year-old dog, and with the help of Mara she has restored confidence in our family. Highly, highly recommend Traction Dog Training!

We did the homeschool program and got set up with Will who was the absolute best. Our dog was not terrible but wasn’t able to go on long walks or behave on a leash. after the 3 week program we now get asked if he is a service dog that is how much improvement he has achieved. I couldn’t have picked a better place to train him and help me learn how to keep training him so his progress will continue. Can’t recommend enough.